Voice | Equality | Human Rights

Workers Day message: Recognising women who work for no pay

By Edinah Masanga

On the occasion of Workers day, I would like to acknowledge women for all the unpaid domestic work that they do. In Africa and other parts of the world, women work in their homes and fields while their husbands go to ‘work’.

What this means is that women get to do a lot of household work which is not paid for in monetary terms while men do paid work and claim to be looking after women. This non-recognition of women’s hard labour in favour of men’s earning power is caused by archaic beliefs that married women should stay at home and look after families physically – and do all the hard work that comes with it – while men take up paid employment.

So on this Workers day, I would like to encourage that we begin to reward women accordingly for all the work they do. If we cannot reward them with money, we can reward them with respect and by creating a conducive environment for women to access paid employment or income generating opportunities.